Limits
by Raima
Summary: A girl who would do anything to surpass her limits. But sometimes, limits aren't meant to be broken...Slow buildup guys! NaNoWriMo 2012 (I won .) I'll add all the chapters I wrote if anyone shows interest, LOL. It's pretty crappy, I'll admit, but it was a little bit rushed
1. Prologue - Start!

Prologue: Start!

It was time.

Finally, after years of boredom, of essays and useless math problems, it was time for _real _school. She could've gone through the process so much faster if she hadn't been forced to wait for Arec to catch up. Sometimes she suspected that the whole twin thing had been made up by their parents. There was no way that he had the same genes as her.

She had mastered the basics months ago, only to discover that she had to stare mindlessly at textbooks while her brother caught up.

But now, they could finally attend the Academy, learn about Pokemon, and be given the sought after title of Master. It didn't, of course, hold the same esteem as it had in the old days, back when there was only one Master per region, but it was still something to brag over. A Master was listened to, obeyed, given free reign over whatever they wished for. Old and young alike held the Masters in esteem, and they were something all people strived to be. Few, of course, could actually pass the first rigorous test, let alone the ones that followed.

The Academy was the very first step in the long process. In order to get any recognition at all, you had to graduate from the Academy.

Sefera knew she would graduate, knew she would go on the mandatory journey, knew she would become a Master.

Nothing would get in her way. Nothing _could _get in her way. She would destroy anything that tried to, break past any barriers. Surpass her limits.

Arec, on the other hand…

At the very least, he would graduate.

She had promised, after all.

Lost in ruminations, Sefera didn't notice that her normal brisk pace had slowed considerably. Her mind was set a little too forward: she was no longer thinking about getting to the Academy; instead thinking of the battles she would win, the Pokemon she would have.

A hand tapped her on the shoulder. She immediately whirled around, horrified by the thought of someone seeing her lost in dreamland.

"Um…Sef? Why are you walking so slow? If we keep at this rate we're going to be late to orientation." Arec fidgeted nervously, blonde bangs jittering at an impossible speed.

"I'm just walking as slowly as you learned," she retorted.

But she did speed up.

* * *

They walked into an atrium filled with thousands of Academy students. Some were dressed in the standard uniform, white top over dark red pants. Others, like Sefera, were wearing various variations of dress wear. Some were dressed as casually as possible.

She tried her best to look confident. To be associating with the other babbling, sweating first years would be a humiliation in and of itself.

Arec stood beside her, thumbs shoved into the loops of his belt.

"It's pretty cool, right Sef ? Bet we'll look great in those uniforms. Not that you don't look great right now." He shot her a lazy grin, green eyes sparkling.

Even if he was stupid, his presence by her side comforted her. She rolled her eyes at him, striving to always look aloof, but a small smile did manage to creep onto her lips.

"Sefera! I don't know if you've noticed yet, but you're smiling! What happened to your ice queen image? I thought you said you would never give that up. Even when that girl you liked—"

A quick elbow to the stomach quieted him.

"Shut up, doofus." She rolled her eyes once again. "My one second of love for you is done now. One more year till the next."

"But…but…Sef!" He mock-wailed. "I thought you said that you would always love me!"

"Yeah. When we were five. When I didn't know better."

"Oh darling sister, let it be known that I, at least, shall always love you!" Arec proclaimed, striking a dramatic pose.

"…People are looking at us, airhead. Tone it down."

"Never, dear sister! Why, if I could count the ways in which I love you…"

An earsplitting sound rang through the air, saving Sefera from Arec's unending speech.

"ATTENTION. ALL NEWCOMERS, GO THROUGH THE LEFT ENTRANCE. ATTENTION. ALL NEWCOMERS…"

Sefera smirked.

"It's finally begun."

**A/N: Sefera called him airhead cause his name is pronounced Air-eek get it hur dur. ENGLISH NEVER MAKES SENSE BE QUIET CHILDREN.**

**So! This is a decently long project that I have planned. Hope everyone enjoys it. The rating of this story is probably going to be M starting about halfway through, so be warned. Reviews are very very welcome.**

**EDIT: FF ate my line breaks, so I'm fixing them...sigh.**


	2. Chapter One - Formalities

Chapter One: Formalities

It was utter chaos.

Over three hundred nervously babbling teenagers streaming through one door. A surging, pushing flow that carried Sefera and Arec forwards without any movement from themselves.

"This is _cool_!" Arec whooped, carelessly flailing his arms through the air. The tie she had so carefully fastened on him this morning threatened to come apart.

Struggling would be useless, so Sefera crossed her arms across her chest and tried to look as dignified as possible.

Moving at one step per minute, the group of rowdy teenagers finally reached the outside court.

The set up was quite simple. Various tables adorned the courtyard in a semi-circular fashion, while large, colorful banners flew above them, loudly proclaiming what they had to offer, from student ID's to uniforms to schedules. But there was one specific station that had the most people milling aimlessly around it.

The station was the biggest, taking up about one-fourth of the entire courtroom. Dozens of tired-looking adults stood behind it, while hundreds of eager kids strained to reach the front. It was the most simplistic booth by far. There was no banner flying above it, no need for them to try to bring the children to the front. All it needed was the one simple word that was haphazardly taped to the wall behind it.

**STARTERS**

"Seferaseferaseferaaaaaaaa," Arec practically screamed into her ear, "Let's go get our starters, c'mon c'mon!"

For once, she and Arec were thinking along the same wavelength. Sefera couldn't deny that she wanted to go and get their starters right now. But with Arec around, she was supposed to be the calm, responsible one.

"Arec…we'll get this done so much faster if we get all our other stuff first. I know you want your starter. I do too. But just listen to your big sister, okay?"

"But—"

"Come with me, little bro."

He sighed, eyes downcast, but he did follow along. She almost never used that tone with him anymore. It was the tone of their childhood, the voice she had owned back when she was innocent and happy and everything was right. Before she had to change.

Her brother wasn't an idiot, even though he acted like such most of the time. He was a goofball, a charmer, a little ball of infectious energy, but he wasn't truly stupid. Arec, despite all his flaws, understood his twin very well. And he knew that when Sefera talked to him like that, it meant she was serious. That she meant it. So he followed along, rumpled uniform and all, grasping the small, elegant hand he understood better than his own.

They were, Sefera noticed, practically the only ones who weren't crowded around the starter booth. The ones who weren't were here fellow intelligent students, she presumed. Or maybe even someone who had already gotten their starter, first in line. They were the ones she should probably become friends with.

She and Arec dragged themselves progressively through the various boring booths all around them. They picked up their schedules and their Pokédex's, and then proceeded to the photo booth.

A quick flash was taken by the alert Alakazam standing there. It might have only taken a second, but with an Alakazam's amazing brain, Sefera knew the picture would be in perfect quality. From there, they stood awkwardly at the area where they were going to get their actual IDs. It was a marvel of psychic mastery: the Alakazam at the photo booth immediately teleported the picture to his trainer, who printed it out upon the standard student ID.

The Academy student ID was unique in the Pokémon world. It had all the functions of a standard trainer ID, with several benefits only given to Academy alumni. One could use it to check into Pokécenters, get your Pokémon healed, all those standard things; but it also functioned as a debit card and let you into areas normal trainers couldn't until they were certified Masters.

Arec, knowing he was forgetful, even signed up for the ID grafting operation. For someone like him, it was almost a necessity: student IDs, once lost, were not refundable. Your only option at that point would be to get a new one, with none of your certification, money, or student points on it. Perhaps she would have the operation done later on too, when she was actually going on her journey, but for now, when she was just in the Academy, she didn't think that inserting a chip version into her arm would be that useful. The chance of her actually losing her ID when she was living in the same place for so long was utterly miniscule.

The Alakazam's trainer gave her and Arec their IDs, with a quick smile and "Good luck!" Sefera held it up to the light, astounded. It was so light, so small. The card felt like it was nothing but plastic, but she knew that within its seemingly innocuous surface lay the fruits of centuries of technological innovations.

In this card, Sefera could see her entire future.

* * *

At long last, after only one more detour (to grab their generalized uniforms), they had arrived at the starter booth.

"Finally…" Arec moaned. "I have never been so unexcited to get Pokémon-related stuff in my life."

Sefera heaved a giant sigh and clouted Arec on the back.

"Arec. We. Are. Ten. You barely _have _a life."

"Whatever, Sef! Let's not talk right now, okay. Let's just go get our starters!" Arec's face was a giant mass of jubilance, sunny enough to break even Sefera's veneer for a slight second.

There was, much to Sefera's annoyance, still a line leading up to the station. She could only imagine how long the wait would have been if she had let her emotions go and gone to this station first and foremost.

The line dwindled, slowly but surely, until Sefera found herself at the very front, staring to a veteran trainer. His face was gnarled and covered with scars, his voice gruff, but she could see the slight twinkle of glee in his eyes that reminded her of Arec. He was nothing to be afraid of.

"Name?" he asked, tapping his pen against the table. The pen didn't fit his appearance at all. It was nothing but a tiny little black smudge against his large, calloused hand.

"Sefera Patel," she responded. The sound of her voice, crisp and clear, seemed unfamiliar to her. All the confidence she had mustered up going into this was slowly draining away. But, through the sheer force of repetition, her stance remained firm, her back straight, her voice commanding.

He scanned the papers in front of him, flipping to and fro. "Patel…Patel…Oh, here we go! Sefera Patel…student #114733409. Do you already have your student ID?"

"Yes."

The trainer raised his eyebrows. "You don't talk much, do you?"

Sefera's forehead twitched slightly, but otherwise, she remained silent.

"Oh, it's totally cool, y'know! Gives you an air of…mystery! Who doesn't like a mysterious girl. Plus your name…Sefera…it's like a wood nymph or something! Pretty damn awesome, if I say so myself." His voice jabbered on and on as he shot a friendly grin at her.

Her fingers drumming at her sides, Sefera tried her best to hide her annoyance. "Yes, that's all well and good, and I like my name too, but I am at the starter booth to get my starter."

"Oh! Sorry kid, you just seemed so much mature than most of these other kids…just wanted to have a friendly chat with you, is all."

Once again, Sefera tried her best to not start ranting at the musclehead. He was just as kind as Arec…and just as annoying too.

"CHARLES! _Charles_, get over here! We're almost done; now stop slacking off!" The trainer facepalmed himself and released a huge sigh. "Sorry about this…wait here for just a sec. My Ambipom is just…lazy. I need to go get him…Jesus Christ!"

Letting herself lean forward, Sefera relaxed her posture a bit.

"Hey…hey Sef? Is that guy annoying you? Do you want me to beat him up for you?"

It was a mystery, honestly, how she had ended up with a brother who constantly lived on two extremes. On one end, he annoyed her to kingdom come and back. On the other, he was the only guy she would ever need in her life. She was half annoyed by his protectiveness, half touched.

"Like you even could, Arec. He has an Ampipom, which means he at least has one Pokémon over level 32. At the least. Right now, you don't even have a Pokémon, and in a second, you're just going to have a level 5 baby."

"Doesn't matter, Sef! If that guy is annoying you, he's going _down_!"

She reached out and ruffled his already tousled hair. There was a scale of things she did to Arec that only they knew about. This was one of the smallest things she could possibly do to him. It meant that he was annoying her…but only just barely.

"He's really only as annoying as you, airhead."

* * *

"And I'm backkkkkk!" The trainer skidded to a halt in front of Sefera, ridiculous grin back on his face. "And here, see—it's Charles!" An Ampipon walked slowly towards her, eyes half-closed. In his left tail was the object Sefera had been waiting for for so very long: her first Pokémon.

He picked up a sheet of paper that had laid on his desk all the while. Squinting heavily, he proceeded to read exactly what it said. "'Based on the personality test you took at the end of basic school, and the trial test taken at the same time on your Pokémon knowledge, the school board has picked this Pokémon for you that we believe best fits your…tem-per-a-ment. We hope that you have a wonderful time at the Academy and that you continue on your journey to become a Pokémon Master.'"

The Ampipon (Charles?) hovered the Pokéball above Sefera's head. She hastily reached out and grabbed it, deathly serious. This Pokémon, her starter, was her very first step on the long road to become a Pokémon Master.

Knowing what species of Pokémon it is could make all the difference in how she trained it.

"Thanks…" she mumbled, too excited to act as dignified as she typically tried to be.

Sefera stared at the Pokéball for a minute or two. In the back of her mind, she could hear Arec telling the trainer his name and getting his own starter. But all she could really think about was the Pokéball she had received. What if it was a useless Pokémon? But…it was her starter. Could she just replace it? No, no matter what, your starter is special. But what if? What…if.

"Hey…" A gentle hand was on her arm. Not Arec. But how could it Not-Be-Arec? Arec was basically the only human being who she let touch her. Sefera whirled around, an icy glare directed at Not- Arec.

It was the veteran trainer.

"Y'know…I was really scared when I got my first Pokémon too. I thought you had to get an awesome first Pokémon to get anywhere. I wanted…like…a Dratini, or a Porygon. Hell, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been surprised if I got Mew himself! In the end though, I got Charles over here. He's an idiot, but, he's mine, understand? He's my best friend, my companion, so many things. No matter what, your starter will always be there for you. It doesn't matter what they are. I mean…I started with this guy, and I've been a Master for thirty-one years already. Just release your starter, okay? And I promise it'll all feel better."

Sefera nodded. Fingered the button. Released.

**A/N: FIVE DAYS BEHIND I AM DYING TRYING TO CATCH UP.**


	3. Chapter Two - Starter (Ender)

Chapter Two: Starter (Ender)

With a flash of red light, Sefera's starter made its grand entrance into her heart.

The first thing she saw was black. A dark type?

Then a flash of white. Not just the color, but a bone-like substance. A Duskull, perhaps?

Then…a glimpse of eyes set beneath a bony skull.

A Houndour. No doubt about it.

A low growl began to rumble through the Houndour's throat. It bared its teeth, glaring hard at Sefera. She was paralyzed, but only for a single moment. Dark types were notoriously difficult to work with…let alone a dual Dark/Fire type. A Houndour is one of the most difficult Pokémon for beginning trainers to work with.

All which pointed to the school board's faith in her abilities.

"Hey…c'mere…" Sefera crooned. The Houndour let out a sharp bark. A warning sign. She got down on her knees, looked her starter right in the eyes.

"Don't worry about me," she soothed. "Not gonna hurt you…"

A hand reached out slowly, so very slowly, towards the Houndour. Its eyes tracked it warily, growl continuing. At last, Sefera reached its fur coat. She began to carefully scratch it behind the ears. The Houndour just kept _looking _at her, eyes narrow. But, at the very least, it wasn't running away.

"This is okay, right? Mhm, good boy, good boy." Slowly, carefully, Sefera reached her other hand into her bag to retrieve her Pokédex. She still didn't know if her Houndour was a boy or a girl, after all. The info scrolled across her screen:

_Houndour. Dark/Fire. Female. Ability: Flash Fire. Nature: Hasty._

"Hey, you're a girl, hm? It shows, you're so pretty, mhm…Good girl, good girl~"

As the slow scratching continued, the Houndour calmed down, second by second, until finally, her eyes were closed in bliss.

"Perfect." Sefera allowed herself a small smile as her hand traveled towards her starter's back, scratching gently around the two ridges of bone there. "Now, let's see, what should I name you…you're hasty…soooo…Vivace? How's that sound, girl?"

She let out a short bark of approval.

* * *

"Whoa, she really is a beautiful girl...that coat's got a bit of a sheen to it, and her bone ridges are almost pure white. I was training a Mightyena once for a friend, and her mate was this great hulking Houndoom. The picture of health, he was. She's really similar to him…just, younger. A _lot _younger." The trainer broke out into yet another friendly grin. "You happy with her?"

"…Yeah."

"Well, that's all you really need. As long as you're happy and content, being a trainer really isn't as hard as everyone makes it seem. Trust me."

"…"

"I'm sure you'll be great. Better start moving now, or you'll be late for the assembly."

Sefera turned swiftly, Vivace at her side. The Houndour stalked forward mightily, head upright, barrel-chested. Her muscles bunched with every step, the flexibility of her youth supporting her. Sefera looked on, at her starter. All fight, but proud, strong, and hopefully loyal.

Would she appreciate her nearly as much, if it weren't for the man behind her?

She turned back around. Vivace gave a startled bark, but stopped where she was, disgruntledly looking down at her paws.

The trainer that had been there just moments before was gone. Vanished into thin air, along with the various paperwork, crates, and tables that had been at his side. She wasn't particularly surprised. Most trainers of his caliber had at least one psychic on their team, and there was no point in him sitting there if his job was done.

But still, she wished he hadn't disappeared quite so quickly. She still had something to say.

Something she almost never said anymore, to anyone at all. Something she had to say right now, before the will escaped from her worn-out, heavy mind.

Sefera faced the blank wall in front of her, aware of every particle surrounding her: the scraps of paper littering the floor, the late students rushing to the doors. Vivace, laying down, head in paws, observing her.

"Thanks," she whispered to the dying room.

* * *

She was one of the last ones to enter the assembly room. It was a completely abnormal thing for her to do. Typically, she was always in the meeting place (no matter where it was or how excruciating the journey would be) at least five minutes early, ready to face whatever was going to happen. It had been a habit for her ever since her seventh birthday, the day when she relinquished her childhood and adopted her role in life. So being barely on time was, in essence, the same as being late to Sefera. She could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on her: judging her, dissecting her, from the safe perches she had always sat on before. It was with a hurried, ungraceful gait that she climbed up the bleachers to the spot at the end of a row that her brother had saved for her. She could sense the eyes watching her, againagainagain _blind stare cold eyes dark dark dark_. A chill swept up her spine, sorrow and longing and loss.

"Sef…you okay?"

Green eyes, jade eyes, a tad lighter than her own. Arec (_who?_).

And the world stopped closing in. And she was just Sefera, late to an assembly.

"Totally fine."

And it wasn't a lie.

* * *

It was loud. There were a bunch of older students milling around at the bottom, and what seemed like teachers too. But in the bleachers, as no adult supervision appeared, the new students began to talk amongst themselves. And it wasn't just normal talking. It was just loud.

So far, Sefera had been having a very odd day. Some parts of it had been great: getting Vivace, starting her real life, starting her real journey. Other parts just…hadn't. And this unending loudness around her? Not helping.

Beside her, Arec was talking animatedly to a girl besides him. His arms were gesticulating wildly, his voice excitable. On good days, Sefera could listen to him talk like this with what amounted to a small amount of affection. But after what had just happened, it grated on her nerves.

"Arec…"

For a second, Arec seemed to have been unable to pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from. "Yeah? Hm? Oh! What's up, Sef?" With a quick apology to the girl he had been talking to, he rotated his body so he could face his sister.

"This—" Sefera pointed to the people in front of her. "And this—" She pointed to those behind her. "And even this—" A quick gesture to the people across the row from her. "They're all loud. Please don't be loud too."

"Oh. Yeah. Gotcha. I just need to…" Turning around distractedly, he fired off a series of standard things to his talking buddy. The usual: nice to meet you, see you around, and so on and so forth.

"Okay! All silent here!" Childishly, Arec mimed zipping up his mouth and throwing away the key.

But for Arec, being quiet didn't mean no longer having a conversation. He managed to not do anything for about thirty seconds before deciding on a _new _tactic.

Arec's version of "sign language."

Her brother began to do a series of gestures that made practically no sense to Sefera, even though she had known him for so long. It involved eyebrow raises, finger-pointing, miming, mouthing words, and every other strategy ever not written in a book.

"Arec. No comprendo."

Rolling his eyes theatrically, the blonde pulled something out of his backpack.

"…Your Pokédex?"

He nodded vigorously and opened it up. The screen automatically revealed the last thing it had scanned.

"A Seel?"

Arec began nodding with his entire body. It was something only he could really execute properly. His head would, of course, bob up and down, but so did his arms and his legs, propelling his body up and down on the bleacher seat.

People started to look in their direction. It probably had something to do with the shuddering seats Arec was causing with his nod.

"…Okay, airhead. No need to be silent anymore. Just don't be a jabbermouth."

"It's Demi, my Seel! She's so cute and silky and warm but I couldn't see her really because obviously we weren't on water or ice when I released her and I want her to be comfy but she just did this little arf arf thing and it was just adorable and I almost named her Sef because she was almost as cute as you but then I didn't cause you would kill me and everything and I was just thinking that you know when she evolves she'll be Demi the Dewgong and that's awesome so—"

"Wow, Arec, I'm actually kind of impressed." She was. Honestly. Pokémon like Seel, who were at their most comfortable when actually submerged within water, were quite difficult for beginning trainers to have. It was generally recommended that you have a different Water type first who you could use to get Dive or some such thing first before risking it. Seel was, of course, not as difficult as a Wailord or a Luvdisc, since they could function on land, but just the fact that they had given Arec a Seel in the first place meant that they expected him to actually go places in Pokémon training.

"Really?" The question was posed quite warily, for the tone she had given her compliment in hadn't betrayed her actual feelings on the matter. To the contrary, in fact: it had been filled with sarcasm and cynicism. As someone who had lived with her for so long, Arec doubted the truth of the statement.

"Yeah…fitting that many words into one breath? Training her underwater will be easy with all the lung space you have!"

It was the cruelest response she could think to use in this circumstance. Arec's shoulders drooped a bit. He might be used to it, but he still didn't actually want to be snarked at, even if it was Sefera.

Sefera adopted a gentler tone. "Hey. Airhead. Look at me. C'mon."

For the first time in weeks, she gave him a real smile. Not the restrained, contained one she normally wore, but a complete, toothy, radiant smile.

When Sefera smiled like that—uninhibited—she and Arec looked startlingly alike.

"I'm completely serious here. It'll be useful."

Arec broke out in a grin too, a perfect mirror of his sister's.

"I never even thought of that!"

They fell into companionable silence.

* * *

After what seemed like ages, an adult finally stepped up to the stark wooden podium in the center of the room.

"One, two, three, testing…testing. Can you hear me? Yes? Then quiet down please. Yes, you over there."

The speaker was a short, stocky woman, with signs of age barely beginning to show up on her face. They manifested themselves in small, practically unnoticeable ways: the laugh lines by her mouth, the slight wrinkles in her hands. Despite all of this, she was a commanding presence. Her voice was loud and authoritative, silencing the chaotic room in mere seconds. Simply put, she was a leader. Sefera looked at her and immediately put her into the **People to Respect **folder in her mind. It was a slim folder, containing only a few names. Hopefully, it would grow here.

"Welcome to all of you, new students of the Academy. As you may have noticed, you are not all the same ages. Long gone are the days in which all trainers started at the age of ten. At that time, perhaps, it was a decent strategy. But now, in our world, as the wild Pokémon grow more feral, as it becomes more and more dangerous, it is imperative for us to properly teach anyone before allowing them to go outside. And that's why your parents, or your guardians, or your family moved to this city, _Vivite et Discete_. Because they didn't want to put you into this dangerous world without a bit of learning first."

Unconsciously, Sefera was nodding along to the woman's spiel. Arec and Sefera…they knew all about the dangers of the outside world. That's why they were here.

_promise me Sefera take care now go go out please now runrunrun _

The woman took a deep drink of water from a tumbler a Floatzel had handed her. She set the tumbler down on the podium. The ice clinked on the sides of the glass, a steady, rhythmic _tick tick tick_.

"That's what the Academy is for. That's what each of you are here for. This is not the school you've been forced into for so many years. If you don't want to be here, then don't. But if you really want to learn, if you want to go out of this one area, if you want to succeed…then I wish you all the luck in the world. Think about it, tonight, when you go to your homes for the last time. Do you really want to be here? Is this what you're prepared to do?"

The woman left, but the atmosphere she had left did not. The room was deathly silent. Everyone had heard the foreboding within her words. And now, they were all questioning their choice in joining the Academy.

In the back of her mind, Sefera noticed that the ice hadn't melted at all.

* * *

That night, as they laid on their pallets in the shelter, on the cold hard ground (for the last time?), Arec spoke up. His voice was grave and somber. It was like hers.

"Sef…do we need to talk?"

"About what?

"Today, when you came into the assembly room late, and you freaked out. What was that all about?"

"Nothing. And I said I was fine, Arec."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm _fine_."

"Sefera…"

"…"

"You can talk to me about anything. You know that, right? I'm here for you. Always. Number one priority, remember?"

"…Yeah. I know."

"Good night, Sef. Tomorrow's gonna be a hard day."

"Night."

In a few minutes, Arec was sound asleep. But Sefera just stared at the ceiling, at the darkness, at the void. Because…because…

Arec doesn't know. Arec can't know. It's me. My secret to carry. My burden to take. And I'm all alone.


	4. Chapter Three - Goodbyes

Chapter Three: Goodbyes

Vivace woke her up at precisely 6 AM. Last night, as Sefera found herself completely unable to sleep, she had brought out her starter and cuddled with her a bit, thinking about the past, until she fell asleep at last.

She forced her tired eyes open, yawning hugely.

"Hey girl…yeah I'm up…thanks."

The Houndour whined softly, worriedly watching Sefera, whose eyes had almost closed again. She nudged her trainer with her cold nose, dark eyes pleading.

"No, Vivace. Stop that. I just need a cold drink, okay? We'll be early no matter what; school doesn't actually start till six. Why'd you wake me up so early anyways?"

Her Houndour barked excitedly, bouncing around Arec's deadweight body. His face was completely buried into his pillow, and he was snoring mightily. In other words, the way he slept literally every single night. His blonde hair was completely tousled and messed up, sticking in at least ten different directions. At least, Sefera thought, his body was pointed in only one direction—even if that direction meant that half his body laid upon the cold concrete floor.

"That's just Arec. Don't bother worrying about him. He's been sleeping like that for…well…as long as I can remember. There's only one way to deal with him, really." She stumbled over to the communal kitchen to retrieve a slightly dirty plastic cup.

"Watch and learn, girl."

With a slight smirk, Sefera filled the cup with tap water, then plopped a few ice cubes into it.

"See this? This goes over Arec's head."

She tiptoed next to her brother, hand outstretched. The distance, in these cases, had to be carefully measured. In one decisive move, the water went pouring all over Arec's head. The three ice cubes all landed on the back of his neck.

"Arec~ Wake up~"

"…Sef?" Arec pawed groggily at his eyes. "Why are you so happy…?"

"Can't I be happy when my wonderful little brother wakes up?"

"…No."

"I got 100 points!"

She had been waking Arec up like this for years. At some point, it had gotten utterly boring. He had gotten used to it. She had gotten used to it too. It had been funny back when he had flinched, freaked out, and sometimes cried. Then he started doing nothing but actually waking up. So she had added in the ice cubes and made a game out of them. Since all three of the ice cubes had hit the very top of his neck, she had gotten a perfect score.

Good thing too, since this was the absolute last time they were ever going to play this game. Starting from tonight, they were going to be in different rooms, sleeping with different roommates. Arec's new roommates would have to figure out how to wake him up.

It was a little bit sad.

So she had ended it on a good note. On a perfect score.

"Sef…what time is it? Do we have time to eat breakfast?"

That was definitely her brother. Thinking with his stomach, as always.

"Yeah. Vivace woke me up early. Let's go."

"But…I'm still in my pajamas!"

"We're going _now_, Arec!"

Sefera dragged her brother's flailing body into the cafeteria. He was a pathetic sight at the moment: wet hair, wet clothes, mucus in his eyes, feet still bare. Digging his heels into the ground like a five year old. Sefera just rolled her eyes and continued to tug at his checkered sleeve. With Arec being this annoying, she just wanted to get in, grab a breakfast bagel, and head to school early.

Until she saw what was in the cafeteria.

Every other person that lived in the communal house—people she and Arec had been living with for these three years—was gathered there, cooking frantically. A feast was piling up on a sleek wooden table she had never seen in this building before. Eggs, bacon, French toast, bagels, breakfast burritos, ham and cheese sandwiches…she had never even _seen _half of this stuff at breakfast before, and definitely not in this quantity. Sefera was stunned into silence.

Nick, an ex-trainer who had lost his left arm in a violent battle with a feral Skarmory, was carrying a pot of maple syrup to the table when he noticed the twins just standing there, shock written all over their faces.

He dropped the pot on the floor, letting it ooze slowly all over the already-dirty carpet.

"Shit!" Nick groaned, staring at first the twins, then the spilled maple syrup. "Double shit!"

"What's wrong, bro?" Jeff, an orphan who had grown up in the communal home, asked.

"Sefera and Arec somehow woke up freaking early! It's not even a real surprise anymore!"

"No uh…Nick…it's still kind of a surprise," Arec stuttered out.

Nick's teeth grinded against each other loudly. A vein throbbed gently in his remaining arm. "And this maple syrup is all screwed up now too…stupid worthless arm."

"Nick, dude, there is a shit ton of maple syrup left in the kitchen. Go get it okay?" Jeff patted Nick's arm reassuringly.

With a grimace, Nick trudged back in.

Jeff sighed. "Nick's really acting like he's gonna self-destruct any moment now…hope you didn't take it personally, kids. He's just been really tense recently. Doesn't want you two becoming trainers after what it did to him."

Arec frowned, a rare expression on his normally cheery face. "But…Nick was a trainer during the Age of Change, before the Academy was established…it's a lot safer to be a trainer now compared to when he was one."

"I know, dude. But if you get a serious injury like that, one that's both mental and physical, you aren't gonna be able to think rationally about it. In Nick's head right now, he's probably reliving that moment over and over again, except with you two as the stars. Don't fault him if he yells at you or whatever today, okay? He's just super worried right now." As he spoke, Jeff's forehead creased in anxiety. Nick had, through his years at the communal home, taken care of Jeff as if Jeff was his own son. Seeing your father figure breaking down was, Sefera assumed, decidedly not fun. Worrying about it would probably make it worse.

So she decided that here was the right place to interject.

"We're going to be fine, Jeff." Insert almost-genuine smile. "Now, what's with the breakfast banquet?"

"Ha…thanks for that, Sefera." He executed a pseudo-bow. "Normally, a goodbye meal is dinner, or even lunch, but for you two kids, this breakfast is the absolute last meal you'll have with our big messed up family. So we wanted to say bye properly. Hence the feast. Cause we wanna say bye to our two little twins. Going away to big kid school. Seems like yesterday when you came in here, Sefey, dragged Arec on your back. Wanna make the goodbye just as memorable as the hello."

With a single step forward, Arec stood only inches away from Jeff's frame. He looked tiny in comparison, but his determination shone in his eyes. It was offset a little bit by the springy cowlicks in his hair, but it was effective nonetheless.

"Jeff. Can I make a speech during breakfast?"

"I don't know, bro…gonna have to ask Marissa about that…you know how she gets about food. Kinda annoyingly obsessed."

"Jeff, you have to make sure I do, okay? Not going to even go to the Academy until I'm allowed to. Sefera's even with me on this." Arec drew Sefera to his side, evidence of his seriousness on this issue. He never made her do anything unless he thought it was completely necessary.

She sighed, laying her head on his shoulder as support. This was something she never would have thought of saying before. Sometimes she helped her brother a little too much. He'd never be able to support himself when she left like she wanted him to. "Yeah. No Academy, no leaving until we get to finish our stay here the way we want to."

"…such stubborn twins we have…"

"Yup!" Arec's blinding grin directed at her again. "Sef's got my back."

"…Kind of."

Eyebrows raised, Jeff began to say something. Sefera could almost predict what he was going to say. And she dreaded it.

"Sefera, are you sure that—"

Thankfully, Nick entered right before he could finish off the sentence that Arec really needed to not hear. "Jeff!" he yelled, "Got that maple syrup, help me get it up on the table, would you?"

"Sure Nick…and kids? Go get changed, please."

_Told you_, Arec mouthed to her. He immediately began running back to their room, undoubtedly to worry over his hair. His hair was his baby, his second most important thing. He spent almost all his share of the commune savings buying shampoo, conditioner, and "high-quality" combs for it every month. The rest of it then proceeded to go to buying Sefera little presents that she always snuck back into his belongings.

"Sefera…"

Dammit. She should've just left when Arec did. Jeff was invariably going to bring up the only topic she just couldn't talk about.

"We really need to talk about that thing…you can't keep your brother in the dark forever. It's too important to keep hidden. If you don't tell him, then I will."

Sefera sent him her number one most chilling glare. "Don't you dare threaten me, Jeff. He doesn't need to know about that, and I'm never going to tell him. And just remember, your threat is useless. Cause in an hour, we are _gone_."

"Sef, I love you, and you're family to me. But mark my words. You can't fake it forever, Sefera. No one can. And I'll do anything to make you understand that."

_Bittersweet…_

* * *

When she stormed back into her and Arec's room, it was with a completely angry look on her face. The whole reason she had taken up this specific role in the first place was in order to get rid of the emotions. Be ice, sharp, frozen ice: clear, cold, and dangerous. Because emotions, strong emotions, in both directions, changed how she looked, changed her entire aura. And that had to go.

Now, she was totally, utterly, angry.

And it showed.

Thankfully, Arec wasn't looking at her when she came through the doorway. He was trawling through the various pieces of his uniform he had gotten yesterday, torn on which combination to wear. He heard her entrance, but instead of turning around, he just kept looking at them, asking her questions over his shoulder. "Oh hey Sef, finally came in? Help me for one sec? Should I wear the blazer open over my shirt or just don't wear it at all? Just wear a tie and shirt instead? What looks better? Or no tie, even, just a shirt and pants?"

Gritting her teeth, Sefera forced her anger down so her voice wouldn't betray her emotion. At this point, she just didn't want Arec to look at her. Until she was back in the ice, completely and utterly encased in its frigid embrace.

"It doesn't really matter, Arec."

"Yeah maybe you're right, I should go with that comb—wait, it doesn't matter? But Sef, aren't you always saying that first impressions matter? Like, a lot?"

Shit. She should've just said the blazer. Would've simplified matters a lot. "Everyone already got a first impression of you yesterday, okay? So it doesn't freaking matter."

"But not everyone I'm going to have classes with…just the people who were around us during orientation."

"**ARGH!**" Frustrated beyond belief, Sefera raked a hand through her hair. "Just drop it, Arec. Wear the stupid blazer."

Abandoning the various articles of clothing on the ground, Arec cautiously approached his sister, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Sef—"

She whirled around, unable to escape back into the ice. Fire burned within her eyes. "Do. Not. Touch. Me. You are going to wear the blazer, I am going to get on my uniform, and we are going to go to breakfast. _Now_."

Arec's worried eyes looked into hers, green mingling with green. But in the end, he said no more. He did no more. He just put on his blazer and left the room.

She _hated_ blowing up at Arec. They had a whole bunch of understandings, little ceremonies of her swatting him or whatever to show her annoyance, all things that kept her from doing little spectacles similar to this one. She did love Arec. He was all the family she had left, and there were so many good qualities about him…

Sometimes, she felt like the problem really laid within her.

Today had not been a good day so far. So she did yet another thing that betrayed her role. Her hair just went up in a simple, loose, low ponytail. Red skirt; white blouse; black flats; red tie: all thrown on haphazardly, with no care at all. Because right now, she didn't care.

And then she headed to breakfast.

Where she would need to sit at the head of the table.

With Arec.

Great.

* * *

On any other morning, Sefera would have greatly enjoyed the feast laid before her eyes. Eating in the communal home had always been somewhat of a Spartan attitude towards food, leaning toward simple, healthy, and lacking. A huge spread like the one she saw now, with glistening mounds of scrambled eggs; crisp stacks of freshly buttered toast; breakfast bagels overflowing with melted cheese; huge pots of jam, jelly and maple syrup; scrumptious fruit turnovers filling the room with their intense, mouthwatering scent; tall towers of pancakes, hotcakes, and all their family; three whole plates of bacon; grilled ham and cheese Panini; and so much more, was an event she had only ever seen in the long ago past. The amount of food was ridiculous—the other residents of the communal home, who would not be moving out, would probably be eating these breakfast stuffs for days to come. It was a dear sight for sore eyes, this bountiful banquet.

But. There was a problem.

Her brother, sitting at her side, sneaking worried glances and puppy dog eyes at her every minute or so. She would engross herself in the rapturous taste of a pancake, then be jolted out of it by sorrowful green eyes. The heavenly scent of the steam that came out when she took the first bite of her cherry turnover was diluted by Arec's sad glance over her sloppy hair. The bacon in her mouth even became completely tasteless when she saw Arec glance at Jeff, then her, then back to him. Her brother was keeping some kind of silent communication with him, consistently shaking his head back and forth. He hadn't really been eating. All he'd had so far was a few pancakes and a breakfast bagel.

Completely unsubtly, she picked up his plate and shoved a whole mess of scrambled eggs upon it. Without even looking at him, she put it in front of him, picked up his fork, and raised her eyebrows at him.

He shook his head again, and pushed away the plate.

Arec had always been the more affectionate one, between them. When they were younger, he had always been teased by others about having a sister complex with Sefera. Back then, of course, she had defended his honor, made him go play with other kids. But in the end, he had always come back to her, eyes wide, cheerful grin back in place. She had always known, unconsciously, that he was hers.

So this? Arec refusing to do something for her—that had happened various times. It wasn't that rare. He knew when a request was ignorable and when it wasn't.

But when it was a simple request like this, just asking him to eat something, he had never refused her before.

Not once.

In the end, she was the one who broke the silence that had manifested between them.

"Arec," she said gently, "could you please eat these eggs? Or anything else?"

His mouth firmed up into a straight line as he shook his head.

_No_, he was saying, over and over again. _I'm not going to just do this stuff for you for no apparent reason_.

She said his name again, almost pleadingly. She even called him her little brother again, something she almost always reserved for special moments only.

But even after all of that, all Arec did was cross his arms across his chest and shake his head "No." once more.

It seemed like he was really, honestly refusing to listen to anything she wanted to say to him today. That nothing she could say to him would make him budge from this position.

Sefera let her walls come down; looked around the room for a distraction, a sign, help, anything that would take her away from the stone statue of refusal that Arec had become.

Nothing caught her attention, not the food, not the table, not the walls. Until she went for a latch ditch effort and swept her eyes across the people.

Only one of them made eye contact: Jeff.

He mouthed something at her, eyebrows raised. She furrowed her eyebrows in response, already confused and worried by Arec. Being 'talked to' like this wasn't helping her at all right now.

He tried again, but if Sefera had one serious weakness, it was her inability to read lips. Finally, he gave up and simply jerked his thumb towards the door, then walked out. She followed, utterly lost and confused.

"Jeff…what is any of this about? What's going on with my brother? Did you tell him while I was gone or what?"

"No, Sefera, I didn't tell Arec anything. Let's just get straight to the point, okay?" Jeff sighed, closing his eyes for a brief second.

"Arec says that unless you tell him what's wrong, he's not coming to the Academy with you."

Sefera's heart dropped to the bottom of her chest.


	5. Chapter 4 - Twins

Chapter Four: Twins

They were three.

Her earliest memory, a quivering Arec taking the blame for getting their father's Growlithe sick.

They were four.

Pulling on his little blonde rat tail, a mischievous smirk playing on her lips.

They were five.

Hand in hand, two little blondes going to school for the first time.

They were six.

Punching him gently for trying to fight the bully on the playground who had taken her toy.

They were seven.

"_You're my number one…Arec…"_

They were ten.

And Arec was leaving.

* * *

_Even as despair entered her heart, Sefera managed to keep her cool in front of the bearer of such bad news. It was a façade, but at least she had managed to bring it up in the first place._

"_Jeff…I'm not going to tell him. I can't. There's no point."_

"_Why not, Sefera? Keeping him in the dark isn't going to benefit you at all. In fact, it'll probably make everything better. He's mad at you right now, just go fix it."_

"_Right now? He's _mad_? Don't be an idiot, Jeff. You don't know Arec like I do. He's not mad, he's just confused to the point of making an ultimatum like that. But if I tell him? Then he'll be mad, truly mad. And that means that I'm going to lose him."_

"_Then I guess you're going to have to leave without your brother."_

_Jeff exited the room, expression somber. He walked up to Arec, whispered in his ear. Arec nodded firmly, walked towards the entrance. Every step he took thudthudthudded in Sefera's tired, weakened heart. _

"_Sef…are you going to finally tell me now? What's been worrying you so much?"_

_She took a deep breath, wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on her skirt. "I…I don't know how you're going to take this, Arec. I've been keeping this a secret for so long, because I was just so scared that when I told you, you would be gone…"_

"_Don't worry, sis! The second you tell me, we're going to go to the Academy, and it'll all be fine and dandy again. Right as rain." He flashed a peace sign at her, grinning like an idiot._

"_It has to do…with mom and dad."_

"_Sefera…you know I've known about that for a while, right? They died on our way to the city from a feral Ursaring attack, and I was knocked unconscious. But then you swooped me off of my feet and into the city, all the way to our precious communal home. And we were home free, just…minus mom and dad. But I'm fine with it, really! I can barely remember them, after all."_

_She choked back a sob. This was not going to be his opinion anymore after she told him the truth. And that is what she was dreading. "That's not a good thing, doofus. Don't say it like you're proud of it."_

"_Was that all you were worried about sis? Cause really, that is no big deal. Do you need me to comfort you?" He stepped forward, arms open, eyes wide._

"_There was something about the attack that…you don't know about."_

"_Something…I don't know about?" He said it slowly, rolling the words around in his mouth, as if to take in the true essence of them before truly speaking them._

"_Remember how we always used to say that phrase to each other? When we were little. 'You're my number one' blah blah blah?"_

"_Yeah, good times…but what's that got to do with this, Sef?"_

"_When I said that, I was never lying. You've been my number one for all this time, for all these years. From the day we said that to each other to today, and hopefully towards the future too. And that's why I made the choice I did."_

"…_A choice?"_

"_When the Ursaring attacked, Mom and Dad weren't killed instantly. They were still half-alive by the time their Pokémon managed to drive it off for a while."_

"_Really? That's pretty awesome! But then…why aren't they with us right now?"_

"_The Ursaring wasn't completely driven off. It was still feral, still itching for the kill. And I knew I could only take one of you to safety in time."_

"…_And you chose me."_

"_Arec—"_

"_Because…I was your number one." Arec's tone was completely low, a stark difference from his normal cheery voice. It scared Sefera, the change that had been wrought upon her brother._

"_Because you _are_." Her heart was beating, almost painfully in the confines of her chest._

"_Well…you know what, sister dearest? You aren't mine any longer." In one abrupt movement, Arec turned and began taking long strides back into the banquet hall._

"_Arec…no!" She reached out, held him in her arms, but he broke away in an instant._

"_Don't." His voice was hard, unrelenting. A stone wall._

_Speaking in a flat, monotonous voice, Arec carried on. "I'll still go to the Academy. You told me what I wanted. And I don't break promises. But don't expect me to submit to your every beck and call like I used to."_

"_Arec, I never expected you to. I just—"_

"_Just stop it, Sefera. This conversation is over."_

_She could hear what he really meant, the words he was unable to say without going for the loud shouting tones he had abstained from using._

We're over.

* * *

Arec was still here, walking sullenly beside her. His presence, his force, his mind was still physically near. But their mental relationship had been severed indefinitely.

She had taken a risk, and she had lost. She had thought (_just for a second_) that maybe (_arecarecarec) _he would've understood her. That he would've just nodded (_why_), accepted it, and had them continue on their merry way.

Instead, she had lost the only family she had left.

Her brother.

Her twin.

Her other half.

Four paces behind Arec Patel, walking with a hunched, unsteady gait, was Sefera Patel.

With silent, burning tears streaming down her cheeks.

* * *

Whenever Sefera envisioned the future, she had always seen her brother, standing right beside her. Smiling, goofing off, being…just being Arec. There had never been a change in that thought process. It had stayed consistent from Day One. But now?

She could only see herself, standing alone, a mere shadow of what could have been.

Going to the Academy had been her dream for years now. The effort she had put into school, the amount she had read and researched and studied, all had been done in order for her stay at the Academy to be as perfect as possible.

But here they were. On their very first day of school. The least perfect day she had ever had.

The worst part, Sefera thought, was having classes with Arec. Because the events that had passed so far in the day hadn't changed him. Not his base personality. He was still happy, cheerful, with a permanent smile plastered onto his glowing cheeks. It just wasn't focused at her anymore.

She saw him, across the classroom, sitting next to people that at any stretch of the imagination, were supposed to be her. Joking around, poking randoms, jokingly back talking to the teachers until even they were laughing with real mirth. Everyone was laughing, in fact. Everyone except Sefera. She just looked at him, looked at the spectacles he managed to cause with deep, sad eyes.

Throughout each and every class she had with her brother (_stranger_) Sefera couldn't help from thinking, over and over again:

_It shouldn't be like this_.

Unfortunately for her, Sefera had basically almost every one of her classes with Arec. The night before, when they compared their schedules, they had rejoiced over the almost ridiculous amount of overlap they had gotten.

"It probably has something to do with all these crappy classes that are required for first-years…" Sefera had muttered.

"Or maybe the world just wants us to be together!" Arec had responded.

If Arec had been right, the world was just a giant asshole.

* * *

After having three classes in a row with her brother, Sefera could finally have a bit of relief. Her fourth class of the day, Caretaking I, was the first one so far that she hadn't had to suffer through.

But there was still the slight problem of making some friends. This was a new experience for Sefera. Lots of those had been coming since that conversation with Arec…but this one was one of the worst. She was almost completely isolated now, without someone constantly having her back. It had turned her into a social reject. People who had noticed her during her previous classes had probably thought she was obsessed with him and/or had a crush on him or something, continuing to further her ability to make absolutely no friends.

It was ironic, really. Before, she had always shunned loners, considering them inferior to her and such. But now, with the removal of just one person from her life, she had managed to turn into one of them. All considering, her life at the Academy was decidedly _not _turning out the way she had expected it to.

She released Vivace. It should be okay in this class, right? At this particular moment, she really just wanted to snuggle with her Houndour.

Her Houndour stepped out, blinking quickly in the artificial classroom light. She quirked her head, at Sefera, then stretched languorously. So far, none of her classes had needed their Pokémon out, so she'd been cramped inside her Pokéball pretty much all day long.

"Hey girl…" Sefera smiled weakly. "Just wanted to pet you for a second, mmkay?"

Vivace barked as quietly as possible, tail wagging slightly. As Sefera petted her thoroughly, she laid her entire body onto the small wooden desk and promptly fell asleep.

"Excuse me, you there, the one in the back? With the Houndour?" The caretaking teacher raised her eyebrows knowingly. "As much as I appreciate young students with a healthy relationship with their starter, you are not allowed to have your Pokémon out in this classroom."

Sefera sighed as her day got just a little worse once again, and recalled Vivace.

The first day of school, even at the Academy, was highly boring. It was actually quite similar to what the first days at school had been like back in the mandatory school, with nothing but introductions and class syllabuses. She could only hope that Battle Practice I would actually involve some kind of real battle.

"…and as you all know, next period is lunch, so I wish you all good luck in your stay at our Academy!" The teacher finished up as the bell rang. Sefera gladly packed up her stuff and let Vivace out one more time.

"C'mon girl, let's get you fed."

But on Sefera's path to the doorway, an unusual thing happened. For the first time that day, another student approached her. She was a small, petite blonde, with elegant facial features and a adorable smile on.

"It's so ridiculous how we're not allowed to have our Pokémon out in this Academy where we're supposed to be learning about them, isn't it?" she whispered to Sefera, one eye on the teacher who had reprimanded her previously.

"Yeah, kind of…" Sefera responded, mood still in the gutter.

The blonde smiled again, eyes lighting up with joy. "Hi, I'm Viktoria Volkova…I think I saw you in History I?"

Sefera thought for a second. She hadn't really paid attention in History I, except for staring mournfully at Arec. "Uh, Mr. Azuma, Period 3?"

"That's the one!"

The girl, Viktoria, had a bit of an accent, one that Sefera had never heard before. It was, she noticed, quite a beautiful one. Her name, too, seemed foreign.

"I've never heard of anyone with a name like yours before," Sefera commented.

Viktoria laughed, a small, evanescent sound. "Er…I don't think there are many of us around on this continent. It's this biiig cold city…I don't quite know how to say its name in your language…"

"Oh…that's pretty nice, I guess." Sefera replied listlessly.

"It really isn't!"

Sefera's train of thought stopped for a second. The girl had said a phrase that honestly seemed like it should've been sad in a very cheerful, open tone. But her hands were clenching onto her backpack straps as hard as possible, knuckles white.

"So anyways," Viktoria continued on, "I saw your Houndour during class, and I thought he could be a great friend to my Alexandr!"

Ah. Of course. The girl hadn't actually been interested in Sefera, she'd been interested in her Pokémon. "She's a girl, actually," she said, scratching the Vivace's small form. "What's your starter's species?"

"Oh! I didn't mention it, did I…he's a Poochyena! I thought they'd be able to get along, da? They're very similar Pokémon, hunting in packs in the wild and such…and I also thought I'd be able to get along with you well too." She looked down shyly as she spoke the last half of her little speech.

"…Really? You thought you'd get along well with me?"

"Yeah, it was just in the way you spoke to your Houndour during class, it was very sweet, very nice. Everyone else was so focused and serious, and they didn't even think about their Pokémon at all. I didn't really want to be around those people, you see."

Internally, Sefera winced. Just a few hours ago, she had been one of those 'focused and serious' people.

"Thanks, I suppose."

"And what, I may ask, is your name?"

"Ah, I didn't tell you yet? Sorry. Sefera Patel, nice to meet you."

"Patel? Was that not also the last name of that popular boy in History I?"

This time, Sefera winced openly. It was a little too soon for her to be talking about Arec with other people.

"…Yeah. He's my brother." No need to get into the twin matter, for now.

"Ah, is that why you were staring at him for the entire class?" Even though she was saying such a loaded question, Sefera couldn't spite her for it. Her blue eyes were just too full of innocence and trust to do anything to.

She settled on a neutral answer.

"Kind of."

Viktoria looked prepared to ask yet another question, but at that point, the sea of people finally opened up a bit, revealing the campus cafeteria.

"Food at last!" The small girl exclaimed, immediately running to join the long line. Sefera walked at a more leisurely pace, heading towards the much smaller line in front of the Pokémon food area. The events of the days past hadn't really left her hungry at all, so it was probably better to feed Vivace first.

A brief smile played upon Sefera's face as she scooped Vivace up. "Up you go, lady, to chow down."

It was just a bit funny to her.

She stood in the five person or so line, Vivace held against her torso. The Houndour exuded a warmth, a little bundle of fur and fire. Her small dark head whipped back and forth, taking in the sights of the bustling cafeteria. Never before had she seen so many people—the only other time she could've was during orientation, but she had been in her Pokéball for the majority of that time, and by the time Sefera had released her for the first time, most of the other students had gone into the assembly room already.

After a short, two minute or so wait, they reached the front of the line. Sefera set Vivace on top of the counter for a minute in order to grab a food bowl. She filled it liberally with basic dry Pokémon food, then slapped a few berries on the whole mix, one of each type in order to see which kind Vivace liked the most. After acquiring a few Rattata bones for the Houndour to chew on, she continued on to the closest small, empty table in the cafeteria.

"Dig in, silly,"

Vivace began to eat with gusto, gnawing hungrily at the bones on top before realizing that eating the bottom first would be quicker. The dry mix disappeared in an instant, but Sefera was pleased to notice that her starter was not a messy eater. No food had escaped out of the bowl, and even her muzzle was relatively clean compared to other similar Pokémon she had seen eat, like her father's large, playful Arcanine.

What was odd was that the Houndour hadn't eaten any of the berries.

"Hey, what's with this? Don't you like even one of them?" She held one right under Vivace's nose, but the Houndour sniffed daintily and turned her head away. Sefera tried again and again, prodding a different kind of berry towards her starter each time. At last, on the last try, a Pecha Berry, Vivace took the berry in her mouth.

"Success!" Sefera exclaimed, completely jubilant…

Until Vivace, with a twist of her head, threw the berry onto the floor.

"…What." She shook her head in defeat and decided to just let her chew on a bone for now. This berry problem would be figured out sooner or later.

As Vivace gnawed joyfully at her bone, Sefera saw a certain someone weaving through the crowd.

_Arec._

His eyes swept over the cafeteria, looking for someplace to sit. For a moment, Sefera thought he was going to sit next to her, but instead, he noticed a table right behind her that was completely empty. With a grin, he headed towards it, a large crowd trailing behind him. She could hear girls clamoring for seats as the table filled up, only to be sent elsewhere when it was full. Above it all was Arec's bell-like laugh, ringing through the air.

It _sucked_.

Sefera laid her cheek against the soft fur of Vivace's back, feeling the hard ridges of bone digging through her soft flesh. "I really can't handle this right now…" She closed her eyes, trying to shut away the world, but still throughout it all, she could hear Arec's animated talking, motion, laughter.

For some reason, however, Sefera heard someone sit in the seat across from her. She looked up, curious about who it was, still holding on to the lingering hope that it would be Arec.

But no. It was the blonde she had met before, Viktoria.

"You never went into the lunch line, did you?" she inquired, lithe body alighting gently upon the red seat next to Sefera's (previously) empty table.

Sefera shifted uncomfortably, finally moving her head off Vivace's body. The loss of warmth was palpable to her body, sending a cold shiver down her spine.

"I went to a lunch line…" It was the truth, after all. She'd gone to a lunch line, it just wasn't one that gave out human food.

"Hm, you're not lying," the small girl tilted her head to the side, "but it was the Pokémon lunch line, wasn't it?"

"How could you tell?"

"Food bowl sitting right here, your Houndour sleeping peacefully…all evidence pointing to the correctness of my theory!"

Her cheerful enthusiasm was contagious, and with a jolt, Sefera realized that she hadn't been paying attention to Arec since this little girl sat down at her table. "Regular little detective, aren't you?"

"None better! I suspected that this would be the case, so…" With a flourish, a tray of food appeared on the table. "I got you food too!"

"…Wait, how could you do that? I thought that we all just get one tray, but it's all you can eat."

"I just asked the lunch lady, told her my new friend was taking care of her Pokémon's needs before her own, you know, and she instantly agreed!" Viktoria's eyes crinkled with joy.

"Well. Thanks." She mustered up as realistic of a smile as she could at this point. Not realistic at all, honestly, but the blonde across from her seemed to appreciate it.

The food was simple, especially when compared to that huge, fancy spread from this morning. A fruit salad, a slice of pepperoni pizza, and a small piece of chocolate cake. A glass of ice water sat on the side too, completing the meal, condensation forming on its sides, slowly dripping down onto the surface of the tray.

She ate the chocolate cake first, a habit that she still kept from her childhood days. It seemed to her that eating the dessert first was logical, since it normally left an overly sweet feeling in your mouth, especially cake like this one, while salad, the typical first dish, ended with a refreshing feeling. So why not just switch the order? It worked so much better like this.

After the first bite, Sefera was surprised at how…well, how good it was. The frosting was light and creamy, not like the overpowering sweetness of frostings she had tried before. And inside the cake itself, there was another surprise: various tiny marshmallows, scattered throughout.

In front of her, Viktoria stifled a giggle. Outraged by her audacity, Sefera whipped her head upwards startlingly quickly, prepared to yell at her. But one look at the girl completely changed her mind. She lay almost full-bodied across her side of the table, laughing a low, deep belly laugh.

"Hey," Sefera said, a tone of gentle indignation in her voice, "what's so funny here?"

The girl tried to speak through her laughter for a moment, an attempt that never fully worked. It took a while for her to calm down, as small spurts of laughter would explode back out of her in just a moment's notice. "Just…your expression at that moment, when you bit into the cake, it was just like my brother's. Ah, too funny."

"You have a brother?" Sefera asked, intrigued.

Viktoria gave a small, firm nod. "Yes, a younger one. Named my dear Poochyena after him."

"…He's still in your homeland, right?"

"Indeed…"

"Do you ever miss him?"

"Of course! But my entire family scrimped and saved just to get the money to let me journey to this city safely and come to the Academy, so I must use it as well as I can!" She smiled again, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Yeah, I get that…I miss my brother too."

Viktoria's face scrunched up in confusion. "But isn't he right there?" She gestured impatiently to the table behind them.

"Yeah, but we kind of had a fight this morning. A big one. And he doesn't really want to associate with me right now."

"But you are siblings. There is no bond stronger than that. Except perhaps twins."

A hot blush suffused Sefera's cheeks. Had Viktoria seen through her little evasive tactic?

"Can…can we just not talk about this? It's too fresh in my mind today, at least."

A small, elegant hand attached itself to Sefera's own. Serious brown eyes looked into hers. "If that's what you want, then I am here for you."

A copious amount of relief flowed through Sefera, and she released a deep sigh. "Thanks, Viktoria."

On Viktoria's tiny face, a frown appeared. "Ah, do not call me that!" she exclaimed, "Almost no one actually calls me that…it's so long, and formal! Just call me Vika."

"Sure, Vika."

It was an odd nickname, for a surprisingly odd little girl. But, Sefera supposed, it was no weirder than her actual full name. Must have something to do with her mysterious homeland again. But it was quite cute, to be honest. Almost as cute as the girl it was attached to.

The blonde smiled again, and this time, it did reach all the way to her soft brown doe eyes.

* * *

Even though Sefera had been lucky enough to make a new friend for the first time in quite a long while, she was also unlucky enough to have her next immediate class without her.

And worse than that, with Arec.

Even though the class had started eight minutes ago, the teacher still hadn't arrived yet. Sefera slumped over on her desk, a display of utter laziness. She was way too tired to deal with things like missing teachers and stupid, annoying twin brothers. Learning about battle would be a perfect distraction. If the freaking teacher would just appear already, that is.

Fifteen minutes later, the door finally shot open. An instant silence spread throughout the classroom. Battle was the one class that most people at the Academy really wanted to learn. The rest of the classes were entertaining at best, and dreaded chores at worst, but battle was perfect: a mixture of fun, hard work, and actual utility in the real world.

"Sorry!" The teacher exclaimed. "One of my eggs hatched literally in the middle of lunch, so I had to rush out and get my place all set up for the baby."

"What Pokémon is it?" Arec shouted out.

"A baby Eevee! Bred her from my Umbreon and Espeon. Who knows what this girl's gonna be…should put it up for a poll in class. Or wait…wait! I just got an awesome idea! Whoever does the best overall in Battle I this year will get to pick what my Eevee will turn into!"

"But don't you want to train it now?" The question came from an attentive brunette situated right in the front row of the classroom.

"It's a baby, guys! I mean, so are your starters really, but that's different. When you have a huge team like mine, giving the babies time to grow and mature is actually really useful for their overall training. Plus, it makes it easier in the future, since she'll like listening to me more…hopefully."

"Hmph…" Obviously not happy with his answer, but nevertheless unable to refute it, the girl sat back, long braid squishing oddly against her chair. The teacher turned around and placed the broad hat he had been wearing onto a rack, a kind of show that this conversation should be over.

"Any more questions?"

Silence reigned.

"Okay then! I'll just introduce myself for a bit, and then we can get started on the _real _meat and potatoes here…battle class!"

He turned around with a flourish, and a sick feeling of dread began to snake through Sefera's stomach.

She recognized this teacher. The same gnarled face, the same scars, the same bulging muscles.

It was the veteran trainer who had given her and Arec their first Pokémon.

…Shit.

"Well, my name's Eric. Super generic name, I know. Apparently my parents had absolutely no imagination or something. Or maybe they just didn't enjoy living their lives with their weird names. I mean, being a Gardner or a Sophorus? That just sucks. So they named me this stupid safe name, Eric."

The class sighed in union, with a majority laying their heads back onto their desks. Their teacher, who they had been looking forward to so very excitedly, was actually a complete snore.

"Oh! Oh, are you guys bored? Fine, let's get exciting then. I'm Eric, and I've been a Master for the Johto region for over thirty years.

Twenty-six tired heads shot back up. The class stared at him in unadulterated admiration, eyes wide, mouths open.

"These scars all represent a part of my journey. I, of course, lived back in the Age of Change, when Pokémon training suddenly became dangerous. Most trainers haven't survived to this extent. But I have. And these scars all over me may be ugly, but I'm proud of them, cause they represent what I've had to go through. Like this one, on my neck? That's when a feral Furret tried to kill me. And this one on my cheek? When the Murkrow I had just caught gashed me all the way down. He's still in my team now though. Little more obedient than before, of course."

Laughter erupted. The whole class was enraptured by Eric's stories, caught up in the joy of Pokémon training.

"But, you also have to understand this: our current world is dangerous. Each time I got one of these scars, I almost died. And that's with me being _lucky_. And that's why you guys are here, in Battle I, learning to become better trainers, of course, but also better survivors. So let's get started."

For the first hour of class, Eric went over the basics of battle: PP, type advantages/disadvantages, STAB, and general tips and tricks. It was all interesting material to Sefera, even though she, of course, already knew all about it. He always kept it fresh and fun to learn with the stories he told as lessons, such as the first time his Pokémon ran out of PP and he thought that he had become sick and rushed him to the Pokécenter, only to learn that it was a completely natural process. Background laughter was a constant track during this class, something that had never been present before.

But exactly one hour after class was supposed to start, Eric put down his marker and stood in front of the class, body firm.

"Now, this next part of class is really important. Honestly. I would even dare say that it is the most important class in the entire Academy, even though I'd probably be lynched alive for daring to say such a thing. It's time for practical battle practice."

* * *

The twenty-six kids that had, just a moment before, been sitting in a cramped classroom were now, for the first time, in the Battle Room.

It was a simplistic room, minimalistic in design, without any of the startling distractions you would see in the fancier rooms that Masters would fight in on their way up to the big ranks. The walls were pure white, with nothing but various bronze, weathered plaques stating the names of famous trainers who had graduated from the Academy on them. The ground was a generic grass field, with an artistically grown Pokéball in the middle, done in separate shades of green.

Eric swept his hand across the field dramatically, a smile spreading across his face as he watched the enamored children staring at the stadium in front of them.

"Welcome, kids, to your first taste of battle. Get in two lines now, c'mon."

It was said in a completely calm, monotone voice, but the students scampered right in front of him. There was no sullenness in this room, like there was in most others. Each and every one of them was completely eager to begin, to start training and learning and fulfilling what seemed to be the meaning of their lives.

Sefera, jostled to the side as newly-made friends struggled to be with each other, ended up in the front of one of the lines. Before all of this had happened, she would have been in the front of her own volition, so she shrugged it off. Being in the front would make a better impression on Eric anyways.

"Kay, good job kids, nice neat two lines, damned good job! Now turn and face the person in the other line opposite of you."

Sefera wearily spun to the side. If, as she suspected now, this person opposite of her was going to be her partner, she might as well give up on having fun in this class today. After all the annoying events that had gone by in this one short day, she definitely did not want to have to participate in conversation with anyone else.

The girl who stood across from her looked just as unhappy to be facing Sefera. It was the girl who had asked Eric that question when he had first came into the classroom, the one with the long, brown braid hanging halfway down her back. Her entire body screamed with tension, her teeth gritted. Yet she didn't move a muscle, exhibited no nervous tick. She just stood there, stiff and unyielding, body tense and ready to pounce.

All along the lines, people were introducing themselves, talking about their starters, taking them out and showing them to their partners. But Sefera and the girl opposite to her just stood there, a heavy silence in the air between them.

Eric, who had been walking along one of the lines, checking up on all his students, finally made his way to the front of the line. He frowned exaggeratedly, getting up close and personal to stare them both in the faces.

"Why aren't you guys talking?" He inquired.

"…I don't know…" Sefera mumbled.

"It's not necessary," the girl stated, head held imperiously high.

"Hm…" he squinted at them again. "It's always necessary to talk to your partner, Bendera, even if you don't want to. You'll never get along otherwise. And Sefera, why are you being so quite? This is nothing like how you acted on orientation day."

That jolted both of them awake. Bendera's hands quivered at her sides, while Sefera simply widened her eyes in shock.

"How do you know my name?" the brunette asked, barely concealed fury in her voice.

"I remember both of you kids, of course. Sefera Patel, student #114733409. Bendera LeClair, student #114733001. Fire starters, good students, pretty stubborn personalities." He grinned again, but this time, it looked a little dangerous, something Sefera never would have said of him before. "Bendera, psychological examination results: unable to communicate properly with other people. Superiority complex. Anger management problems. Sefera, unable to communicate with strangers, introverted, and slightly neurotic. Do you want me to go on?"

The entire rest of the class was staring up the lines to the two students at the front. Bendera was glaring at Eric with all the anger she could muster up in her steel blue eyes. Sefera just looked downwards, mind swirling in turmoil. Who was Eric, really? She had been wrong when she first met him…he wasn't like Arec at all. Arec would never do something like that, was incapable of doing that, in fact. Even if he could, even if he had this seemingly perfect memory Eric had, he would never have used it to humiliate or point out people like this. It hurt in places she had never been stabbed in before, to have all her dirty secrets and troubles laid out in front of twenty-five strangers.

Eric stared at them both, his eyes cold, his mouth set firmly. "_Do you want me to go on_?" There was danger in his voice, sharp blades hidden in the dark.

"No."

"…No."

"Then start talking to each other. We're not gonna start practice until you do." He swept away, each step thudding deeply in the ground. For the first time, Sefera thought of what he could do with that heavily muscled, pain-written body. Never again would she underestimate a trainer who had managed to live through the Age of Change.

And she and Bendera started talking.

Within the ten short minutes they were given, Sefera had only learned two things about her partner. One, she most _definitely _had a superiority complex. She spoke haughtily to Sefera, insinuating that the blonde was a weakling within every veiled statement. Although she was only two inches or so taller than her, she talked and moved with her chin slightly raised, as if showing her importance by making everyone look up at her. Two, she was a straight up bitch. She insulted everyone around them: Eric, the gangly boy with the long limbs three people down from her, even Arec—or, as she called him, "that heinous boy who does nothing but talk to others".

(Sefera was, privately, a little glad that there was someone who hadn't instantly fallen in love with Arec in this Academy.)

She sighed inwardly. Eric had, at some point, announced that their partner in this exercise was going to be their partner for the rest of the year. Most of the kids had cheered, having purposely put their friends across them in the first place. But for Sefera, this was most definitely bad news. She didn't think that anyone in this entire class would have voluntarily agreed to partner with Bendera…probably the reason Bendera had been pushed up to the front of her line just the way Sefera had been.

But at this point, she would have to suck up all the annoyance she was feeling about this horrible partnership. Honestly, it was her own fault for not even attempting to make friends during this first day and instead staring forlornly at Arec every other second. If Viktoria hadn't personally taken the initiative to come talk to her in the first place, she would actually have made a grand total of zero friends here in the first day of the Academy.

So she forced a small, unwilling smile on her face and talked to Bendera in a slightly less pissed off manner.

At last, Eric came bounding back up to the front of the line. "Made friends with each other? Good!" he exclaimed, without even waiting for a response from either of them. "Then we can actually start this thing!"

He strode to the very center of the stadium, standing almost perfectly upon the release button on the Pokéball in the middle of the grounds. From that position, the entire stadium seemed open against him. It was his territory, his area, and he seemed supremely confident in his being there.

With yet another huge, cheerful smile, Eric spread his arms to their maximum length at his sides, encompassing the entire room in them.

"Let's start practicing!"

A huge cheer rumbled through the ground.

"Okay then, everyone separate into groups, please. Fire starters on my left, water on my right, physics in front, electric in front of the physics…" After hearing the first call for fire starters, Sefera blanked out the rest of the long list and instead raised an eyebrow at her partner.

She indicated the general area to Eric's left that had already begun filling up with a bunch of students. "Shall we?"

The brunette rolled her eyes, but gave a single stiff nod and began to stalk forward imperiously. With yet another small sigh, Sefera advanced forward too. Once upon a time, Arec had told her that every time you sigh, you lose a little bit of your soul.

If that was true, Sefera was going to become a vampire really, really soon. In a week, perhaps.

The group of fire starters was one of the smallest. Fire Pokémon were naturally harder to train then, say, grass Pokémon for example, so only students that had scored well on the practical tests in school had been given them. There were only three kids there, excluding Sefera and Bendera, of course. One was a small, nervous, jumpy boy who fidgeted constantly, an oddly colored Slugma at his side. It was not the deep red that most Slugmas were. Instead, it was an almost yellow color. Orange, maybe. Anyways, the main point was that it was weird. The other two were also boys, although they were both much taller than the boy. One of those looked much older than the standard age of the rest of the students. Instead of looking ten or twelve or so, he looked like a fifteen or sixteen year old. His messy red hear fell sloppily over his head, and freckles ran spontaneously over his face. In any other circumstance, he would probably look like an idiot, but the gentle Ponyta nestled lovingly at his side gave him a completely different impression. The last boy was the gangly one that Bendera had so haughtily insulted before. It was true that he didn't really have much control over his limbs, but, Sefera thought, he would definitely grow into it as he grew older, and his light blue eyes would make him attractive…eventually. Or, at least, she hoped so. If he kept looking and acting like that when he would got older, he would end up being forever alone. His Pansear, who was perched alertly on his shoulder, looked tiny in comparison.

The silence was complete in the fire group as all the students looked attentively at their own Pokémon, completely ignoring the other students around them. The small boy had sat down at this point, holding a small, quiet conversation with his Slugma, occasionally, fleetingly touching its burning surface. The older boy was slowly stroking his Ponyta, hand passing through its mane as if he didn't care at all that a Ponyta's mane was made of pure flame. The tall, gangly one was just lying against the nearby wall, eyes closed as his Pansear looked from side to side, watching its surroundings warily.

After these moments of observance, Sefera realized that she should probably release Vivace too at this point. She called out her started. The Houndour stretched luxuriously, then barked at Sefera, small tag wagging gently. The blonde smiled, her first real smile of the day so far. She had lied before, when she had thought that Viktoria was her only friend at the Academy at this point. Vivace was, of course, a friend to her too.

After playing with Vivace for a short moment, petting her gently and cooing sweet words at her, Sefera noticed that Bendera, after all this time, still hadn't released her Pokémon.

"Aren't you going to release your starter?" Sefera asked. She was reluctant to talk to Bendera, at any point, at any time, but she was honestly quite curious at this time. Bendera seemed like the kind of person who would show off her Pokémon with pride.

"…I don't particularly want to," Bendera said stiffly, back straight and tense once again.

"Why not?"

"My starter…is not a particularly _impressive _Pokémon, by any means."

Sefera stifled a laugh. Bendera, who acted like she was the queen of the entire known world, had gotten a lame starter? The irony was honestly quite beautiful.

"Doesn't really matter, Bendera. You're going to need to let it out eventually. If only to battle with it."

Bendera's hand moved gingerly towards the Pokéball strapped onto her belt, fingering the band lightly. "…I will. Later. When we absolutely need to."

It was kind of amazing, the lengths Bendera was going to in order to just not let out her starter. Sefera could see a small chink in her typically invincible armor. There was a tiny bit of vulnerability in the girl's voice when she talked about her starter that was never present otherwise. If she was going to be stuck with this girl all year long, she may as well get to know her better. So Sefera just shoved her fist up into that small chink, brusquely getting to the real point of the matter.

"It can't be _that _bad, can it? There aren't really any bad Fire Pokémon, after all."

Bendera shot yet another one of her cold glares towards Sefera for even insinuating that her opinion could be wrong. "Yes, there are," she spat out, venom lacing her every syllable. "And my starter is one of them."

With a complete lack of mercy on her part, Sefera continued to poke and prod at Bendera's sore spot. "Bendera, just tell me what it is. I'll see it eventually when we have to train together anyways, and if I don't know by then, I really will make fun of it. In public. In front of everyone."

"Fine! Have it your own god damn way!" Bendera exclaimed. She leaned closer towards Sefera, long braid swinging in front of her body instead of the back, where it normally laid. She was so close to Sefera that a few loose strands could actually tickle Sefera's nose; so close that she could see every individual strand. When it was this close to her, Sefera noticed that her hair was actually multi-colored, with light brown and dark blonde hairs intertwining with the predominant dark brown. It wasn't significant enough to be noticeable from a difference, but up close, it made what seemed like very typical, boring hair actually…pretty. Beautiful, even. The warm chocolate hues, the slight vividity of the blonde, it all contributed to an overall sensation of allure.

"Your hair's pretty…" Sefera whispered under her breath. It was a completely unconscious phrase, one she had most definitely thought of, right then, but not even considered actually saying. Until it accidentally slipped out.

Bendera skipped backwards rapidly, face flushing bright red.

"W-What did you just say?"

Sefera cursed mentally. She had such bad luck. The one time she had accidentally said something as embarrassing as that, and it had to be to someone who had remarkably good hearing! No normal person would have actually been capable of hearing something that had been said that quietly. Eric probably could, but then again, Eric also had that insane memory capacity.

"Well. Um. I meant—I meant that your hair was…um…" Sefera shifted back and forth, both mentally and physically. There was no way she was going to get out of this mistake uninjured. Bendera was going to try to kill her.

But what really happened was that Bendera moved in close to her once again.

"You said my hair was pretty, right?" she whispered. For once, her voice was gentle and soft.

Sefera nodded slowly, completely confused by this 180 degree personality shift.

"Well…" The brunette reached out to tug a strand of Sefera's own hair. Sefera winced, completely prepared for a giant lock of her hair to just come ripping out, but instead, Bendera tugged it gently, lightly, and laughed for the first time since Sefera had met her.

"Your hair's pretty too."

Bendera withdrew and went back to her normal pose, standing imperiously over the rest of the crowd.

Sefera just stood there, stunned.

_What. Just. Happened?_ She screamed internally, having a full blown mental panic attack. This was not within her calculations. At all. She had not anticipated that Bendera could hold this kind of persona within her.

Because that? That hadn't been bitchy, or imperious, or haughty, or stuck up, or any of the other phrases Sefera had already mentally assigned to Bendera.

That had been, for lack of a better word, sweet.

Suddenly, Bendera clapped her hands together, emitted an "Oh!" sound, and leaned back towards Sefera, only furthering the turmoil that was running throughout her brain. The braid was back in her face, Bendera's face was back in her face, and this was all getting to be a bit too much. Either Bendera was bipolar, or…or…

Or Bendera was bipolar.

"Just so you know, it's a Numel. And it's a her."

And then she _winked_.

Sefera honestly had no idea what in the world was going on.

* * *

It had been eight minutes (exactly, she had looked at the clock) since Bendera had done…whatever that thing she was doing would have to be called. The silence within the Fire group had become more and more awkward, since absolutely zero of them were talking to each other now. Sefera desperately wished that Eric would just get to her group already. He had been working his way around the groups in an efficient, quick spiral, giving them all instructions. At any other time, she probably would have appreciated his work ethic. But in this case, his little systematic method was making them the absolute last group that he was checking up on. And that was just painful.

Since she didn't know any of the boys in their group, Sefera only had mild amounts of awkwardness with them, the awkwardness that comes from knowing absolutely nothing about someone else, the awkwardness involved in finding mutual interests and something to talk about. But Bendera, from the direction where she was leaning comfortably along the wall, exuded the awkwardness that can only come from an actual completely awkward event occurring.

In this case, an incident involving hair and compliments and Sefera really wanted to totally forget about it, like right now, and just get back into that whole training thing.

Finally, after what seemed like ages of doing nothing but sneaking surreptitious glances at Bendera and then diverting her attention back to Vivace, Eric managed to work his way all the way around to the Fire group.

"So! What's up, Fire group?"

A slow, quiet, generic mumble came from the bored group.

Eric nodded knowingly at their response. "What I'm getting from that is that you guys haven't interacted at all, right?"

A chorus of yeses abounded.

"Well, I kind of expected that. In general, during the selection process, we put pretty anti-social types into the Fire group. Oh, and also, you all have a huge amount of potential to become great trainers, as you all probably knew already. That's one reason I put you guys, the Fire group, as second to last in my order, cause overall, you'll probably need less help. But that's only if you all try really hard. No matter how much potential you have within you, it's all pointless if you don't fulfill it."

This announcement left Sefera a tad bit stunned. She had, of course, assumed that they were all good trainers (or, as Eric put it, had the potential to become such) but she hadn't known that they were specifically pulled out as the anti-social students of the bunch. Which meant that this awkwardness that she had been feeling this entire time would probably never be completely cured.

"On that happy note, we really do need to start training. Almost all of the other groups, minus you and the Psychic group, have already started their training. And since the school day is almost over, you're not really going to have any opportunities to train. Just do some Ember drills against the wall for a few minutes, and then we'll get started on some real training, okay?"

An overall affirmative mumble followed their teacher as he jogged over to the Psychic group in order to give them directions too.

Ember drills, Eric had said. She assumed that simply meant practicing Ember against the wall. Something pretty boring after all. She had already practiced Vivace's basic attacks the day before, a few hours before she had retired into her bedroom for a well deserved sleep.

"Wait! Wait! Eric!" The tall, gangly kid lurched to his feet and began to chase after their teacher. "What if our starter doesn't know Ember yet?"

"Then just practice whatever moves you've got!"

"Against the wall?"

"Anywhere you want!"

He heaved a sigh, reaching one long arm up to pat his Pansear on the head. "We're in for a looong day, Spitfire."

They all did as instructed for only about ten minutes, with Vivace flinging small bits of fire at the wall. Bendera's Numel, the older boy's Ponyta, and the short kid's Slugma were doing the same thing, while the lone Pansear futilely used Scratch against the grass floor. It was boring, tedious work. Sefera could see Vivace getting more and more irritated as her bursts of flame became larger and larger, even though Sefera had asked her to conserve the amount of fire she was using just a few minutes previously. Eric's allusion to "real training" had made her wary, and she didn't want to make Vivace fight if she was completely tuckered out.

She drew Vivace back to her side in order to whisper a few calming words to her, telling her once more to calm down and just use a tiny amount of fire. The small Houndour whined piteously, looking up at her with large puppy dog eyes as if to say that she would still be fine, even if she did use more fire than necessary, but Sefera shook her head firmly.

A loud sound began to ring through the stadium. Vivace's ears perked up, and she strained against Sefera's grip, barking eagerly. Even Bendera's Numel, normally complacent, as most of its species was, had a look of interest on its dopey face. The sound came from an odd instrument Eric was blowing on. It looked like your standard recorder, but at the bottom of it, there was an odd Pokéball-like shape.

"Got all of you guys' attention now, don't I?" He winked at the crowd happily. "Can anyone guess what this here object is? I'm sure one of you has learned about it somewhere. Let's see...the first person to correctly guess what it is gets twenty free points added onto their student ID."

The room was silent. No one raised their hand. Sefera racked her brain for information, but came up blank. She recognized its shape, and even its function, but its name escaped her. It was Poké-something, as most things were. But what was that last part of the word? Recorder? Clarinet? No, none of those words rolled off her tongue in any way. Maybe…hm. The Poké…flute?

That was it! The once legendary Pokéflute, once one of a kind, now mass produced, that could be used to awaken any sleeping Pokémon. She had heard about it once, in a childhood story about a mysterious young trainer, only ten or so, who had existed long before the Age of Change or even the Age of Progress. He had lived in the Age of Battle, before the concepts of Contests or Breeding had even sprung into being, when the only way to acquire Pokémon was to catch them in the wild. If she remembered correctly, he had gone to great lengths to save the Pokémon tower, now a national monument within the Kanto territory, and had been given the Pokéflute as a reward. It had been an exciting story for the four year old Sefera and Arec, when told to them by their father in his overly dramatic ways. Which is why she still remembered it now, six years later.

She raised her hand, surprised that no one else had done so already. It was a pretty famous story in both Kanto and Johto, two of the most populated territories in the world. How could no one else in this class know the answer to it?

Only a millisecond after Sefera had raised her hand, another one shot up on the far side of the room. The person who had done so was too far away for Sefera to identify correctly. All she could see was that it was a blonde.

Eric pouted over dramatically, eyes downcast. "Wow, only two people in the class know the answer? This was a pretty famous object to me, you know, way back when I was young. Pretty shameful, guys, pretty shameful."

He pointed at both Sefera and the mysterious person, beckoning them to come up to where he was. After scooping Vivace up into her arms, Sefera complied, brushing past various people and Pokémon on her way. The other person, on the other hand, was given easy access to Eric and arrived there more quickly. The people around him had parted instantly, for some odd reason. Maybe because his group was more social than the Fire group Sefera had been in, and they had actually communicated?

In any case, Sefera continued to move forward, with Vivace uttering short, low growls to anyone who didn't move out of her way properly. It was kind of odd to Sefera, how her sweet little Houndour could turn into this kind of Pokémon around other people.

Eventually, Sefera managed to reach the small dais that Eric was standing loftily upon, chest thrust forward. Unlike when Bendera did such, however, he acted like he was most definitely doing it on purpose, looking like an arrogant rooster all the while. It was a funny sight.

The mystery person had already reached the dais a minute or so earlier, giving Sefera more insight into who they were. Distantly, she registered the blonde hair, the informal red blazer, the jade green eyes.

The joyful smile that slid away the second their eyes locked onto each other.

It was the first time that they had really, honestly, _mutually_ looked at each other since their fight this morning.

"Sefera and Arec…" Eric stage whispered (thank _god _he didn't say their last names) "you two are going to fight it out for the big prize."

Arec let out Demi, a somber look on his face. He cradled the Seel lovingly in his arms, and Sefera could barely handle anything anymore. Because Arec was never supposed to look this sad. He wasn't supposed to be staring at her so beseechingly, pleading at her with his soft green eyes.

"I guess…I guess we're going to have to fight it out, Sef."

She smiled sadly back at him, heart pounding painfully in her chest, and put Vivace upon the ground.

"Guess so."

* * *

**A/N: So NaNoWriMo ended yesterday, and I managed to make it in time! So I've decided to upload this story till that 50k word mark, probably putting up a new chapter every week or so. Warning: since this was written for NaNoWriMo, there is a whole bunch of weird sentence structure, weirdness in general, character ooc-ness...the usual xD**


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